Page 44

EMME

M y head spun from the chain of events today.

So much had happened in such a short period of time, and I wasn’t sure I understood the full reasoning behind it. Sure, the witch had made her agenda clear—she was on the side of Fletcher and the Termaine witches. But what had they hoped to achieve?

Was it destabilization?

Were they hoping to kill a bunch of entitled alphas and weaken Golden Claw’s council?

Was it just a show of power?

Or had they been attempting to kidnap me again, and if so, why had there been no real effort?

I had all the questions, and no way to get any real answers.

“You ready to continue our story, Shortcake?” Kellan rumbled, settling back on his pile of fluffy pillows, dragging me against his side. It was the middle of the day, and after our shower I was exhausted, naked, and ready to curl up with my mate until our pack returned.

“I’m so ready,” I murmured, rolling over to face him, draping my arm over his chest to enjoy all those gym and hockey muscles. As I traced the expanse of his bare, golden skin, a random thought hit me. “We should get tattoos.” We were the only two—oh, and Talon—who didn’t sport any ink.

Kellan let the book fall to his side as he turned his focus on me. “What would you get? I’ve never been able to decide, even though Fin has drawn me up dozens of options.”

It was still bizarre that Finley was the artist who created such incredible, lifelike tattoos on the others. Even though he only wore a few sentences?—

“Wait, who did Fin’s tattoos? Surely, it’s not easy to write on yourself?”

Kellan laughed. “He’s a talented punk, that bear. He did them himself, with Hunter helping through a few tough spots. Finley’s a genius with a tattoo gun—all that angst and pain must be fodder for artists.”

I couldn’t help but join his laughter. “I can’t draw a stick figure without help. Must have skipped my trauma.”

Kellan dropped a kiss on the side of my head, his touch soothing as he ran his hand through my damp hair. “You have skills that are much more desirable that drawing on skin, Shortcake. Don’t undersell yourself.”

With a snort, I smacked him in the ribs, and he laughed so freely it sent tingles down my spine.

“Now is not the time to discuss my head job skills, asshole,” I said, still chuckling myself.

“And when it comes to tattoos, I have no idea what I’d get.

Maybe a symbol to represent our entire pack—I’d like it to mean something. ”

We remained in a comfortable silence for a minute or so, with Kellan’s lips lingering against my temple as he held me close. “I’d like mine to mean something too,” he finally said. “I’d love your wolf. My pretty mate.”

This alpha knew exactly what to say to have me melting into a puddle at his damn feet—romance novels did him good. “I need one with all of us represented,” I decided, already forming an image in my mind. “Our quintet.”

Kellan’s hold flexed against my skin. “But how is it a quintet with Talon?”

We’d all long stopped pretending he wasn’t a part of the pack now, in whatever capacity it all played out.

“The essence of a quintet remains complete, despite the extra member,” I said, feeling more confidence than was probably warranted with the amount of information we had.

“I can feel it, and while I don’t know the future, the way forward is with the six of us.

It’s centered around them being twin souls, and whatever their specific bond entails. ”

Kellan didn’t argue as he pressed kisses to my cheeks and over my nose, adoring me in his golden ways. “I trust you, pretty mate. I trust in our pack.”

Kellan’s faith was akin to a million-level boost to my own confidence, and I was glad we’d had this conversation. We both needed the reassurance.

Eventually he picked up the book, and I settled in to listen to him read.

It was odd not having Hunter here with us, tracing his hand over my skin while Kellan read, as he did every single time I woke from nightmares.

I had no idea what I did in my last life to deserve this pack, but it must have been huge.

Like… I saved a burning orphanage or invented the vibrator.

Whatever I did, it benefited humanity greatly.

“Chapter twenty-seven,” Kellan all but purred, resting the base of the book on his chest, holding it one handed while the other held me. “Hunter is going to be big mad that he missed this.”

That piqued my curiosity. The story centered around a fae woman who was waging a war against the current king.

She’d been living on the fringes of their society with the resistance and had gone undercover in a contest to find a bride for their leader.

Her hope was to be chosen, and to destabilize the rule from the inside.

The last chapter we’d read was the dance, and she’d unknowingly found herself in the garden with the king himself.

This wasn’t their first time being alone, or the first time she’d noticed this annoying attraction between them, but it was the first time he’d shown a softer side.

Which had confused her more than anything else that had happened so far.

The king was the monster in her story, or at least in the stories she’d been fed from the resistance, and when he didn’t live up to his reputation, it sent her confusion spiraling.

I related hard to the female main character as she traversed this forbidden love, wires-crossed, unexpected-soul-mate storyline. Torn between her heart and her duty.

The author was definitely leading us down the path of if the king found a strong partner who’d help him fight for their people and the kingdom, then he would grow into a truly admirable leader .

Or maybe the author would throw a curveball and keep him as an asshole, and she will fall in love with him anyway. Maybe this was a villain love story.

Or maybe she was going to fuck her favorite guard, Jere .

The possibilities were endless.

This was one of Kellan’s favorite series, and while he already knew the ending, he absolutely refused to spill one spoiler for me. Not even when I begged. On my knees.

Though he at least looked pained when I’d tried that.

“ Shadows lined the king’s face ,” he started, his low voice soothing, “ and all we had were the illumination of the fireflies around us to guide our way. In the dark, his beauty was even more unnatural. Those hard lines and perfect planes, full lips and defined cheekbones. The wash of silver hair littered with hints of shimmering strands, and I hated how he consumed my every thought .”

Kellan’s voice, while deep, always took on this melodic tone when he read, like its own form of magic. I forgot everything that had happened today, and all the bad shit that would no doubt happen tomorrow. I got lost in this fantasy world again.

As they moved through the dance scene, stopping at the edge of the castle, Kellan’s voice grew lower: “ ‘What spell do you have me under?’ the king whispered against my lips, and my voice faded under the roar of desire unfurling deep in my stomach. Hot, unrelenting, desperate need.

‘It is you who have cast a spell, your majesty,’ I replied, unsure if I was speaking truth or playing my part so well that not even I could tell what was real or not.

‘And I don’t know what—’ My words were cut off as he kissed me.

It wasn’t my first kiss. Or even my second.

But Lady Stars above, there was a very real sense that it could be my last. Pressing myself against his much taller frame, I tried to pretend this was all part of the plan.

But there had been no way to plan for this.

When his strong hands bit into my thighs, through the thick material of my gown, I ached to feel that firm touch on bare skin . ”

I leaned closer to Kellan and my breaths came out faster. I’d been so enthralled in the story that I jumped when he broke the moment with a laugh and kiss on my lips.

“The sexual tension,” I groaned when he pulled away.

His eyebrows waggled, the deep blue of his eyes piercing into me. “You have no idea. No fucking idea. It gets so much better.”

He continued reading, watching me between every sexually charged sentence as the king and the fae sent to dethrone him fought their desires.

The next chapter was even more explicit, and as the king knelt before the female fae, running his hands up her bare thighs, Kellan adjusted our positions so he could follow that same path on me.

On instinct, I parted my legs, breaths ragged as my limbs trembled.

Holy shit. Reading was the foreplay I didn’t know I needed in my life.

“ ‘So wet for me, Starlight,’ the king murmured, his low groan sending shivers through my limbs until I was a languid, needy mess. ‘There’s only one path forward from here.’ He remained on his knees, his tongue tracing the trail of his hands… ”

Kellan’s tongue glided over my skin, kissing as well, all the way until he brushed his lips over my aching core. My clit pulsed at the contact, and I arched against him, so wet that it slid between my thighs and down my ass cheeks.

“Next,” Kellan whispered against me, “he ran his tongue along her pussy, lapping up all of her arousal.”

I cried out as he flattened his tongue and slid it through my folds.

I arched my hips, and he held me down, the book falling to the side as he used both hands to part me wide enough to wiggle between my legs again.

“He circles her clit with his tongue,” he rasped, apparently having the damn text memorized, and my hands tightened on the sheets in response.

One day these alphas would actually kill me via edging, and on that day I’d die a fucking happy, frustrated shifter.

Kellan’s breath was hot as he huffed against my core, sending a clenching spasm of need through my stomach. My hips moved against him as I suffered through his slow, agonizing touches.

“He slid one finger and then another inside her,” he continued, his thick fingers filling me and leaving an ache behind with each thrust. “Both of them knowing that this was forbidden but unable to help themselves.”

At this stage, I was so damn wet that I could hear him finger-fucking me. I slid one hand around the back of his head and threaded my fingers in his blond strands, keeping him close.

“He didn’t want to waste one drop of her release, so his slid his tongue down her sweet cunt, lapping at the spill of desire.”

I gasped as Kellan’s mouth joined his fingers, his tongue flicking across my clit. I was so close to release, but I wanted to hold out until we reached the climax of the story.

“Sadie knew this wasn’t part of the plan, but as her body unraveled around his touch, she honestly didn’t give a fuck any longer. The plan could wait for tomorrow. Tonight, she was taking her pleasure.”

My body bucked against his thrusts, and as he moved his fingers harder and faster inside me, his dark-blue eyes met mine. Watching me, his tongue returned to my clit, and I was tumbling, crying out his name as my release coated his hand and face.

“Fucking delicious,” Kellan rumbled against me. “I could live on your pussy and nothing else for the rest of my life, Shortcake.”

Goddess be damned.

He drew out the orgasm, and when I collapsed on the bed, my limbs tingled in time to the spinning of my vision. Kellan crawled his way up along my body, the thick head of his cock bobbing tantalizingly before him.

He held his weight off me with his strong arms and stared down with a look that could only be described as awe.

“You’re so perfect, pretty mate, that I think you might have been written by an author and brought to life for me.

” He licked his glossy lips and groaned as he tasted me all over again. “Yep, my dream fucking shifter.”

I threw my head back and laughed, my rush of happiness taking me completely by surprise. “My goddess. That’s quite the line, Golden Boy. But I think I like it.”

“I love you,” he shot back. “I desperately crave you in a way that should scare you, mate. Are you scared?”

I responded by reaching out and wrapping my hand around his thick, heavy length, stroking from base to tip. “Not scared. Happy . You were a very good boy,” I purred, stroking him gently as I watched his face to gauge what brought him the most pleasure in my touch. “And good boys get the rewards.”

His cock jerked in my hands as Kellan panted, his pupils blown out. “Pretty mate,” he groaned. “Please, baby. Please.”

I wore a near permanent smirk as I continued to stroke him with one hand, while the other pressed against his chest to shove him onto his back.

I moved to straddle his thighs, and he groaned, “Baby, have I ever told you that you can do whatever you want to me. Like… whatever. Just keep fucking touching me.”

Sliding up his body, I released his length as I settled on his hips, leaning forward for a kiss.

I sucked his tongue into my mouth, desperate to taste him, and angled myself until the thick head of his cock probed at my entrance.

In slow, maddening increments, I sank down on him, my body still requiring time to adjust to his size, even after my orgasm.

Kellan gripped my hips, clinging on in a desperation that matched the tension lining his face and throat. But he never pushed me to hurry—if anything, he looked like he was enjoying the anticipation as I finally descended all the way.

Sitting for a second, to give myself a chance to adjust, my pussy tightened and clenched at the sensation of being this full. “I swear to fuck, you’re so deep I can feel you rearranging my insides,” I groaned as I wiggled my hips.

Kellan’s hands slid up to cup my tits, his fingers brushing across both nipples until they were hard and aching. “Ride me, pretty mate. Take your pleasure from me.”

My hips were already moving, swiveling and grinding against him as need stole clarity and conscious thought. “I want your pleasure,” I managed to say. “This is your reward.”

Okay, mine too, if I was completely honest. Still, I was determined not to come until Kellan did.

He thrust up into me, taking a little control as he continued to squeeze and caress my tits, sending me into a frenzy. My aim had been to watch Kellan fall apart beneath me, but I was the one losing it already.

Hunter never really allowed me control in the bedroom, and while I mostly enjoyed a more submissive role, it was nice on occasion to take the lead with Kellan.

Honestly, so far, whatever they chose to share with me sexually or emotionally was working, and I wondered about the dynamics when I was bonded to all five powerful shifters.

The thought of which all but took my breath away.